


The Most Powerful

by GlitterFairy_21225



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Good Sibling Allison Hargreeves, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Powerful Klaus Hargreeves, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:15:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26184061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitterFairy_21225/pseuds/GlitterFairy_21225
Summary: Number Four's powers aren't a problem in the beginning, not like his sister. It's only after they’re older, too old to forget, that Reginald is forced to take a similar road and give himself yet another child he can't use. But at least he can control.And even though the family is painfully aware that he is anything but, Klaus Hargreeves is officially useless.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Everyone, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 93
Kudos: 481





	1. Prologue ~ Uncontrollable

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. These fucking writers... They knew *they knew* that the possession subplot was not what literally anybody meant when they said they wanted more on Klaus's powers in season 2. 
> 
> I don't want to be a downer, but I don't think Klaus is gonna get levitation or telekinesis in the show. I mean, if he's sober for three years and nothing then.... I guess fanfic writers have to do it themselves then.

The children's abilities manifest themselves just before their first birthdays, and from the beginning it's obvious that Number Four has the strongest of powers. He's the only one of the children to show more than one ability, telekinesis and levitation. Though Number Two eventually shows a second power, nobody fucking cares about breathing underwater.

More than that though, as they grow Number Four only seems to develop new powers. It starts with what are first perceived as imaginary friends, but quickly he manages to make these imaginary friends physical to him and then to others, and finally visible to everyone. It doesn't take long to deduce that these are actually ghosts.

This intrigues his father, billionaire Reginald Hargreeves, greatly. Because these children are his playthings and he just gaslit the other child powerhouse into thinking she's ordinary.

Unlike his sister, Number Four never gives him a reason to fear uncontrollability. At least not at first.

It's a gradual process. In the early years, their father is able to keep up the pretense that Number One is the most powerful, even with Six and Four's powers remaining unhidden. They are young, too young, and numbers mean too much to them. But then they grow older and while most of the children's powers stay the same, Number Four's grow with them.

It's a training day and they're supposed to train with hand to hand combat. As in no powers. Which the kids already find to be silly given that there is no reason why they wouldn't have their powers, but is also especially impossible for Luther, given that his powers are literally super strength.

But of course there father doesn't care about that, because he's not very practical, and forces Number One to train with his siblings using his raw strength anyways. And of course, he wins every time. Every time, that is, until Klaus sent him flying before Luther could even touch him.

"Number Four!" Reginald glowers at the young boy as his siblings run to their brother. "You were not to use your abilities for this assignment!"

"I'm sorry!" He yells, terrified he hurt his brother. "I won't do it again."

But he does it again. And it becomes very clear that he has little control over it.

Soon powers that had been manageable, clearly just in need of some practice, imperfect but getting there, were a force of destruction. If he gets too mad, the ghosts can turn on those around him in an instant. If he gets too happy, he floats and can't get back down. If he tries to focus on moving an object on a table, he moves the object and the table. And then it's everything in close proximity to the object. And then it's the wall behind all that stuff.

What's the most frustrating to their father, who's a sadist, is that these problems become apparent when the kids were too old. Number Three has an insufferable rebellious streak as well as a soft spot for Number Four, and it's unlikely that she'd keep this a secret from him indefinitely.

However a solution does present itself to the sick, sick man. Number Four, now named Klaus, becomes so powerful that even their siblings become scared of him.

Not like Six, or Ben, who could at least keep his abilities under wraps for his siblings to choose not to think about it long enough. With Klaus it's in their faces, always around them, reminding them that they cannot outmatch his abilities. There's no denying he's the most powerful, that he's too powerful for himself, that he's too powerful to control. That he could lose control and they couldn't stop him. It scares them. All of them.

The straw that breaks the camel's back comes at night. The children are eleven at this time, not even ready to go on missions yet. Klaus has always had nightmares. More so than his siblings, who were all terrified by the dead that would sometimes appear with their brother.

Occasionally, not on their father's mandatory weekly night vital check, they'd crawl into each other's beds to seek comfort from one another, but never Klaus. Which is especially sad because the nightmares were at their worst with him.

It must be understood that control is hardest to maintain when overemotional, and this is for a boy who doesn't have much control most of the time. He had no control in this instance, especially not when he's trapped in the prison of sleep.

He stays in that prison even as the earth begins to quake and the furniture begins to elevate. Even as his bed floats above the floor and he floats above the bed.

His siblings wake up to Klaus's powers levitating all their siblings as well. The stronger brothers try to get to their brother, but the force of his telekinesis keeps them from getting closer or even moving at all.

In the end it's Five who saves the day, or night, teleporting into Klaus's room. He's almost instantly grabbed in a telekinetic bound and shoved against the wall, but seeing his brother floating he teleports again, as close to the airborne body as he could get and he manages to grab ahold of him. Klaus wakes with a gasp, confused and terrified.

The boys and the furniture stay in the air, Five needing to teleport again to get a better grip on the other boy, but eventually Klaus is soothed into falling back onto the bed, and eventually lulled into letting all the furnishings go, scattering across out of place.

When it stops the children are too petrified to sleep anywhere other than the panic room, and even their father is too stressed to shame the preteens for that, so he asks their mother to make a note to do that in the morning. All petrified except for Five, who spends the night watching over his brother, also in fear of another nightmare. And that's what's most important; Fear.

The damage is done. Both physically and metaphorically.

The entire mansion is totaled, and the adults have to call on allies they'd rather keep away from the children and hadn't needed to call upon since they needed to build a now broken cage. Furniture and toys are left broken, some beyond repair, some that meant a lot to the members of the family. And any hope of Number Four taking control of his abilities is extinguished, leaving only fear and dread in the hearts of his siblings.

And so Reginald Hargreeves comes up with an altered plan of the one he used on his daughter.

He doesn't use pills to keep from drawing comparisons to the supposedly ordinary girl, but once a week Klaus would take an injection of the same chemicals put in the pills. The children all nod obediently when they are told this, all secretly glad that their brother's powers will be under control again.

It all happens so quickly. It has to. From the moment he hears of what will happen, the furniture starts shaking again.

Klaus clenches his arm and bites his lip the first time he takes this injection. It's only been a few months since he and most of his siblings got their tattoos. The walls begin to tighten and clench until the needle breaks skin and its contents inject into his veins, and only then does his hold on the world loosen and release.

And even though the family is painfully aware that he is anything but, Klaus Hargreeves is officially useless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's my first chapter! This was supposed to be a long fic that was only one chapter, but I realized it would work better as a multi-chapter fic. Basically, I began writing it with the framing device of changing pov every 1k words or so. It looked kind of weird though, so I just did this.
> 
> I already have chapters two through four written, chapter five is almost done, I've started on six, and began a sentence on seven.
> 
> This first chapter didn't have a specific character. I was going to do Reginald, but I just had the idea of an unlimited third person narrator who's mostly unbiased just being like, "This is Reginald. He's a sadist."


	2. Diego ~ Worry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm gonna try and update daily if possible, I already finished chapters five and six so I'll try to keep it up.

"Watch over your brother." Mom tells them. "Poor boy's powers aren't all there, and we don't know how much of the powers he still has are under control. You all will look after him, won't you? I worry about him so..."

Diego nods, as do Luther and the rest of their siblings. Klaus isn't here, going over his part in this mission with Dad. And a part of him hopes that that eats at Number One, their brilliant leader, to know that Daddy doesn't trust him and only him with the one sibling that everyone agrees is stronger than him.

Klaus shouldn't be on this mission and Dad already said that he'd be held back from half of them. But not this first one. Dad needs to introduce them all to the public, and instead of keeping Klaus out of the way for the mission and then bringing him out afterwards for the camera, he's just sticking his time bomb of a little brother in the middle of their first mission.

Of course, Luther just tells him to shut up when Diego points this out. "Dad says Klaus should be on this mission, so he's gonna be on the mission."

Diego steams silently, the way he always does when he's reminded of Luther, precious Number One's, leadership over him. It's his word that matters over Diego's, but at least that means it's also Dad's word over Diego's, and even if he was the leader that would be true anyways.

But this is different. This is Klaus. This is Diego's little brother. The brother Luther mostly ignored until it became obvious that his lack of control was more of a problem than anyone could have guessed. The brother Luther looks at as a problem not a person.

Diego's the one who's left to look after him. Or at least he was before things got bad, so bad. While Klaus was left being a nuisance to Luther, a friend to Allison and Ben, and occasional playmate to the others, Diego was left in charge of his little brother's messier shit.

For years he soothed nightmares, walked his bruised brother to Mom in the health room, calmed his fears in Diego's own irritated way. That is, at least before it became a health risk, and now that it no longer is he's back on that duty. Luther doesn't even like being around Klaus when he isn't a problem for The Umbrella Academy to overcome. He shouldn't be calling the shots when it comes to what Klaus is ready for. And neither should Dad.

Of course, there was a long period Diego couldn't do anything for Klaus without seriously fearing for his life. He'll never admit it but the guilt is like a piercing knife. It doesn't seem like the isolation did damage that couldn't be undone, but he just can't stand thinking about Klaus lonely, so lonely, cracking under the sheer power that hid beneath his skin.

Diego is grateful, something else he'll never admit. Grateful to his father, of all people, even as a burning resentment for the old man builds up in him more and more with each passing day. Grateful that Dad could at least do something help, even if helping isn't actually what he wanted to do.

At least now Klaus isn't a danger to him, himself, and the others. Even if he's left weak and of little use to their team. It's almost fitting that Klaus is left to be the runt of the litter not counting Vanya, yet something else Diego can't admit out loud, though for very different reasons than the other stuff.

It never seemed right, the raw strength Klaus's powers evident even before things got so out of control. Even if they were born on the same day, Klaus is his little brother, whether it be by hours or by milliseconds. Diego should be the stronger one, he should be the one protecting his brother, and certainly shouldn't be in danger of him. Now it almost feels like a wrong has been righted. He is strong and Klaus is not.

The mission goes well. Almost everything they've ever dreamed of since they were little, spending the thirty minutes on Saturday afternoons they have to play pretending they were robbers and heroes. Though they stopped after Mom caught on begun incorporating the game in their training when their father wasn't watching over them.

Klaus is a constant concern, of course, but Mom told them to look after him so... He mostly stays out of the way, something that's a relief to the others but only worries Diego more. That's not Klaus. Klaus is always, always, in the way.

Slowly, as slowly as his powers grew to unmanageable strengths, the siblings withdrew from Klaus and Klaus withdrew from his siblings. Diego figured the loss of the majority his powers would fix this, but Diego's the only one to try and go back to how things were before, if that's even possible.

Not even Klaus is the same as he was before. He holds back now. Keeps things to himself, his emotions to himself. His powers were worse when he was overemotional, so maybe Diego should see that as a good thing but he can't. All that emotion pent up and trapped inside his little brother, building up, ready to break out. Diego fears he'll explode.

Diego fears he'll explode. He doesn't know how those injections work, though Five does ask Pogo in interest and he tries to listen but is incapable of understanding. But he imagines the powers trapped beneath his skin, building up, ready to break out. It's not a nice thought. Diego fears he'll explode.

He doesn't tell anyone this. If his doubts are a weakness, and Diego doesn't want to take the chance that it is, he can't let it be known. Besides, the slight possibility of whatever Dad gives him backfiring is better than the guarantee of disaster that is Klaus without the medication.

Slowly, very slowly, but not as slow as it took for Klaus's powers to grow as strong as they did, things get better. Klaus being the weak link quickly becomes just another part of their lives.

The other siblings gradually reintegrate Klaus into their free time the same way he was before. That is; Allison most of the time, Ben oftentimes, the rest sometimes. Diego is relieved for that, but feels guilty, and wonders if he's forgetting the terror of his abilities. And regardless, Klaus is never the same. He's different now. More sad, less peppy, less Klaus, and it drives Diego insane.

But then Five is gone and the possibilities hang over their heads, the concern weighing heavily on their hearts. Klaus confides that he's tried to summon him but couldn't, he's not strong enough, not now.

The implication is there. If Five is dead, Klaus will need his full powers to call on him. But with Klaus's powers come chaos and weakness and he won't be able to protect his brother. So Diego wraps an arm around him and tells him not to worry about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, yet another thing we didn't get enough of in season 2. I adore protective big brothers!!! And S1 Diego and Klaus are my second favorite sibling pairing behind S2 Allison and Klaus, I wish there was more of them. :(
> 
> For real, I'm not even that mad, their separate storylines just didn't intersect that much and I can live with that. Plus we got him with Allison and they have such a special bond. <3 Also the Antonio Banderas line was so amazing it might've actually made up for an entire season without those two.


	3. Klaus ~ Forget

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry.

Klaus never wanted to be powerful. He doesn't know why he is. If any of his other siblings had his powers, maybe that would make sense, or at least more sense.

Luther or Diego, who are always battling to whose the strongest- or strongest of the two of them. Or Five, when he was around he was all about 'pushing his limits' or some bullshit. He'd probably know how to deal with these powers. Or Vanya, little Vanya who everyone knows wants desperately to be extraordinary like the rest of them.

Anyone other than him.

Klaus is not ambitious. He does not care about being particularly useful, or strong, or all the things that he is. Or all the things he was. All the things he couldn't handle being and so stopped.

He takes the injections once a week, like clockwork. He gets over the fear of needles that all the siblings, besides Vanya, hold before the others, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. Klaus wants a lot more tattoos than these.

He almost goes off the magic suppressing stuff once, only after Five's disappearance, but it was too soon. Too soon after his real powers. But memories fade as routine sets in.

No one likes thinking about it anyways. No one likes thinking about someone as laughable as Klaus being strong and powerful. No one likes thinking about a force The Umbrella Academy couldn't overpower. No one likes thinking about how easily their most powerful could become their least.

He's sixteen now and he is used to being useless. They keep him on lookout duty, a nice term for keeping him out of the way. Out of the fire, where Klaus is usually too completely weak and useless in battle, but he knows that the other option is being too strong to control.

It's easy for this family to forget, more than others. They forget Klaus's powers the way they forget about Five. For a time Klaus wonders if he's the only person in their family left who remembers that these parts of their lives had ever existed. But as he gets older, and in theory wiser, Klaus begins wondering if they think about what's been lost just as often as he does. And he does often. And maybe they just never talk about it. Not like Klaus does either.

It's another prison, he realizes. His inability to speak about his powers, to speak of his brother, to speak to his brother. All prisons in their own rights, not unlike these mansion walls. Suffocating him, holding him back, driving him mad.

"Do you think I'll ever leave?" Klaus asks Allison one day. 

They're hanging out in the latter's room, messing around with makeup and clothes. Klaus feels happy when they do this together, but it's never quite the same as before. He thinks he remembers how happy this made him when he was younger.

"Leave where?"

Klaus flops his arms around lazily as a way of gesturing to their home all around them. "You know... What's on the top of your list of places to leave?" By the way Allison hums, he can tell that his favorite sister understands.

"Of course we will." Allison says instead of saying as much. "We're almost eighteen, why wouldn't we leave?"

"I mean me." Klaus lays on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "What about the suppressants?"

Allison sighs and lays next to him. "Don't worry about that. Just get the address and you can get the stuff yourself like a real adult." 

A dreamy smile appears on her face just thinking about being 'a real adult'. Klaus tries to ignore the dulled pang in his chest and push away memories of being so giddy.

Allison drapes an arm around him and continues. "Maybe Dad might not like that we're leaving but he can't stop us after we're eighteen, and no one is gonna leave you here with him."

"But then I won't leave the city."

"Well, that's okay." Allison frowns. "I'm sure you won't be the only one not to. And you can probably still visit me in Hollywood, or if not I'll visit you and the others. That'll be okay. Right?"

Klaus presses his lips together and doesn't reply. She doesn't get it. No one does. 

At seventeen he starts skipping on injections. Not because he wants his powers to help his siblings with their missions. Klaus isn't selfless enough for that. He knows that. Otherwise he'd have figured it out when he had his powers.

He skips because Klaus wants to leave. Leave this house, this city, this state, maybe even the country. It might seem like he's being unreasonable, and maybe he is, after all there are much worse fates than having to live in the same zip code all his life.

But Klaus wants more than that. He wants freedom. Real freedom. All Klaus knows is restraints and rules and it drives him crazy. And if he can't be free to use his own powers than he can at least have this. But maybe he can have both?

Klaus wants to go wherever, whenever, with no care for the world that he leaves behind. He wants an adventure, he wants the thrill of lack of consequences that he's been robbed of so far, he wants to drift from place to place with no commitments or responsibilities to tie him in one location.

Something completely impossible with Klaus dependent on his father's serums.

He's trapped. Eternally trapped. Trapped by an address, his father, his powers. And Klaus is sick of it. But if Klaus can take control of his powers, the way he doesn't doubt his siblings could have done if they were cursed the way he is, then he is free. He could go wherever he wants, no need to worry because whatever place he's drifted to doesn't come with scientists and needles. Or at least the kind that Dad throws at him.

And maybe because he misses the feeling of flight, of power, of strength, and he's beginning to forget about it. And he doesn't want to.

So he skips. Klaus skips his injections. Not all at once, just in small pieces so he'll have time to train them. He's discrete, something he's never been but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Dad's long since stopped with the security cameras, and more importantly stopped monitoring his injections. It's become such a routine part of their lives that watching over him would just be a waste of time.

Klaus's plan doesn't work well. His powers are slow from all that stunting. He takes to hiding in one of the countless rooms in their giant mansion to avoid getting caught. There's something so chilling about using his powers for the first time in years. What scares Klaus the most is finding that he's forgotten how good it feels to have power racing through his veins.

He never intends for what happens next to happen. Never. Not even in his worst nightmares, and he has the most gruesome of nightmares, would Klaus ever think that this could happen.

But that doesn't matter. What matters is the mission. What matters is that Klaus blacks out. What matters is the blue that consumes his vision. What matters is his brother's broken body laying in a pool of blood. What matters is the pure devastation he causes his family when he's not in control.

"I forgot." He lies.

He tries to tell Ben to follow the light, but his brother comes back to him later saying it's too late. He's a ghost forever, and Klaus is the only one who knows.

It's unfair that the only person he can say goodbye to is the one who killed him, but Klaus can't make him physical. Not without risking someone else. No one asks him if he can see Ben, no one talks to him much at all these days, and he doesn't tell them he does. He doesn't want to see the looks on their faces. And besides, before he knows it most his siblings are moving out except Luther, who doesn't talk to him much either.

Klaus stays long after most of his siblings leave, and only leaves himself when his fatal mistake is left unspoken long enough to believe it forgotten.


	4. Vanya ~ Want

Vanya doesn't want to resent him. If there's ever a sibling she shouldn't resent, it's Klaus. The one who can't control himself, the one whose too special for his own good, the one everyone seems to love. Her opposite in every way.

She couldn't have been born with a fraction of his powers? Not even half, just a fraction. Just one of the several powers he has at his disposal. Just one. If she could just fly or had telekinesis or even see the dead, not even made them visible or touchable just seeing them, than her entire life would have been different. Vanya Hargreeves would have been extraordinary.

A fraction of Klaus's abilities and Vanya would have been a part of The Umbrella Academy. She could have played with her siblings, understood the quiet inside jokes they developed over long missions away from home, her prescence wouldn't have been a nuisance. She could have spoken without viscously being reminded that she wasn't there, on missions, with her family. That Vanya didn't belong. Doesn't belong. Will never belong.

Vanya pushes back the tears that build up in her eyes and lets it all out on her page. All her anger, pent up resentment, all put into words. And not even beautiful words.

She's not a good writer, Vanya thinks in disappointment. She wasn't much of a bookworm. That was Ben, or even Five, but not her. But she can still see that she doesn't have much of a way with words. She's not even talented at pouring her heart out.

Vanya writes of Klaus. About his powers. If she ever dares to publish this book, this will be the first time the public ever learns of the true extent of The Seance's power. Dad saw no use in telling the rest of the world about the things her brother can do. Vanya supposes that's true enough. That there was no use of letting them know. Until now.

She writes of her jealousy, of how it sometimes feels she's been cheated out of her powers and that they were given to him instead. Of how Klaus couldn't control it, or maybe couldn't be bothered to control it. Of how he always seemed to resent his own abilities, something that still drives Vanya mad.

Vanya leaves his part in Ben's death out of it in the first draft and the second draft and the third and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth.

The first draft is a mess, barely strung together and completely incoherent. The second is just a fix of the first. The third is where she gets especially bitter, adding in parts that deep down she knows are petty. The fourth Vanya loses her nerve and erases half her work, trying to appease the anger she knows her family will feel at her writing and it's the draft Vanya hates the most. The fifth she rewrites and rewrites, and while it's not as unforgiving as the third it still lacks the satisfaction she felt with the first three. Vanya figures the sixth is the closest she can get to perfect.

The seventh rewrite should probably just count as a last minute addition to the sixth draft, but Vanya refuses to think about it that way. It's not a small change, adds at least six thousand words to her manuscript just to get out the full story.

She puts it in on the anniversary of the day he died and Vanya chooses to console herself by pretending she fit in with other twenty somethings. She puts it in when she's so drunk she can barely realize what it she's doing and yet Vanya manages to write all about the gruesome details of Ben, poor poor Ben's, death. She wakes up the next morning with a deep and heavy pounding in her head.

After her hangover passes, Vanya forgets about the things she wrote until later that evening when she looks over her manuscript and sees her additions. An odd chill runs down her spine and settles deep in her heart, heavy, sinking it down like a stone.

She should delete it. Delete it and throw it out and forget about it. That's what she should do. But Vanya doesn't do that. Instead she fixes the six thousand words up. Makes the rant coherent, corrects typos, and there are many.

She should delete it. She should delete it. Vanya reads her book fully, the details of Ben's death included, from the prologue to the final paragraph. She should delete it.

She sends out her manuscript to a single agent. If it gets rejected, Vanya would delete it. She would! She would.

It's a stupid ultimatum, Vanya knows. A tell-all about The Umbrella Academy, spilling all the golden children's juicy secrets from an inside source. 'Inside source'. Ha. The Allison Hargreeves and Spaceboy's gross and odd relationship, what really happened to The Boy, and of course, The Seance's secret, deadly superpowers. And to top it all off, the previously unrevealed details of Ben's tragic demise.

Of course she gets an offer.

Vanya gets what she wants. Suddenly people know who she is. She gets her fifteen minutes of fame, even if only lasts fifteen minutes. It's still fifteen more minutes than she's ever gotten before.

Fifteen minutes to burn bridges that weren't really there in the first place.

A part of Vanya wants to tell them that she withheld Ben's death for as long as she could. That it was a last minute addition. That she hesitated to tell that one truth. That she regretted telling that story before she regretted anything else.

But as the years pass and she finds herself regretting more of her book than she's happy is out there in the world, Vanya knows her regrets mean nothing. Absolutely nothing.


	5. Ben ~ Listen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To make up for their season two dynamic.

Despite it all, Ben loves his brother. More than he will ever know. He doesn't listen though. God, life would be so much easier if Klaus would listen.

Klaus stays with Dad longer than the others. Besides Luther, but him staying always felt like a given. For Klaus it felt like a given that he wouldn't stay. He always seemed like the type to fly away the second he'd have the chance. But he doesn't and Ben knows why.

"It's not your fault." He tries to say, but Klaus doesn't listen. Never listens. No one does. They never did when he was alive and now no one even knows he's there, talking at all.

And the only person who does is quite possibly the least effectual listener of them all.

Ben tries to tell him a lot of things, but it goes in one ear and out the other. He spends years begging Klaus to leave, he hasn't been on a mission since Ben died anyway, and the biggest surprise of them all is that Dad lets him.

Klaus and Ben leave after at the age of twenty two, not saying goodbye to Pogo or Luther or Dad or anyone else he hasn't spoken to in the weeks prior. Klaus leaves after years of not talking about the things that led to Ben being in the situation he is.

And look. Ben doesn't blame Klaus for what happened. He doesn't. He's pissed at his lot in life, pissed that his life is over and that it could have been prevented, but he's not mad at Klaus. Or at least he doesn't stay mad at Klaus. He can't. Not when his brother so clearly hates himself.

Ben also knows that he's luckier than most. Plenty of people die in freak accidents caused by someone else fucking up. Those people don't also get a chance to screw around with their living brother and just pretend. To just forget that they aren't actually alive.

Then the alcohol starts. But that's fine. It's fine. Even if it makes holding down a job ten times harder for Klaus, and still doesn't make him happy again. It's fine. And then Vanya releases her book, which on one hand; Good on her for sticking it to Dad and the rest of them for how they treated her. On the other; ... She just had to tell the entire world how Ben died? And that is when the drugs start.

Suddenly they're homeless, or technically just Klaus is. Ben tries to coax him into getting clean. More than a few times, Klaus relents and visits rehab. But it never lasts.

Klaus actually tries the first few times, but after he relapses every time, Klaus gives up. He still goes, still pretends in the beginning, but Ben can see him. Ben learns to pay attention to the tiny details Klaus thinks don't matter, all of which point to his brother's apathy towards the situation.

It doesn't matter anyway. After awhile, Klaus also stops pretending he still has faith in himself to get clean. It's as though it's all a joke to him. It's as though everything's a joke to him. As though his own life, his homelessness, his addictions, his pain, is all one funny joke that only Klaus can get.

But Ben knows his brother. Knows that he just wants to forget what he's done. That's why Klaus never listens when he wants to talk about it. That's why he drowns his sorrows when not talking about it doesn't work.

Klaus never goes off his injections again. When he's sober enough to remember he never forgets. And when he can't remember he begs Ben to remind him. It's almost unnerving how Ben can make his brother's spine go rigid with just a few words. A few words to remember.

The pharmacists at the lab their dad used for the stuff become used to the drug addict with weekly prescriptions. He even goes so far as to having his serum sent to the rehab centers he frequent. 

"I wish I knew they'd do that when we were kids." Klaus mumbles, exhausted as he approaches sleep after taking his injection for the night. It's his nineteenth first night back in rehab, not that Ben counts, and he's still foggy from the drugs.

"Do what?" Ben asks.

"Send it different places and stuff. They do it every week when I'm stuck in this place."

"Can you at least go back to pretending you care?" Ben asks dryly. He saw through it back then, but at least he could appreciate that Klaus was putting in some effort towards something.

"I was a bird, Ben!" Klaus ignores him. Ben rolls his eyes. "A bird in a cage! And I needed to be free! As free as a bird!"

Ben sighs. They'd been so naive growing up. Thinking they could be free. Whatever freedom it, adulthood isn't it. And that's even if freedom exists at all.

"I wanted to fly! I was gonna to Paris! Or Egypt! Or the moon!" Klaus giggles.

"That's Luther, dummy." Ben rolls his eyes, feeling a rush of warm affection.

"Ooh! We could visit him! It'd be so fun!" Klaus says, naively. Ben is reminded of when they went to Allison's wedding. God, he misses the rest of his siblings. So much.

"Okay then? We don't we?" Ben suggests. "Why don't you get clean, get a job, and pay for a ticket to Paris? Or Egypt?" Ben pauses. ".... Or the moon?" He decides to add just to be cute. But that's the last one, lest the joke get old. Maybe he's learned a thing or two from Klaus.

Klaus doesn't smile though. His eyes fill with so much self hatred that Ben does a double take.

"What?"

Ben doesn't blame his brother. Not even when he learns the truth. Because Ben listens, Ben knows how much Klaus hates himself for what happened. Sees it on his face and hears it in his voice. Ben already knows how much Klaus must've wanted his freedom, how much he didn't know about what was going to happen next, and how much he kicks himself for it.

Klaus doesn't even bother staying the night in rehab.

"I love you, Klaus." Ben whispers to his brother's hazy-drugged up form from where it's hunched over a street bench. "More than you know."

Klaus grunts and doesn't show any signs of listening.


	6. Five ~ What Happens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five is crabby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the hyphens so they look... better.

Five is not an idiot, making him the exception to the Hargreeves rule, so he doesn't rule out the possibility of the world ending as a result of one his siblings. Most specifically the sibling known for being a ticking time bomb under certain circumstances. What bad things can happen when an uncontrollable force is set free?

His suspicions are only heightened when Five finds his sister's book. He forces himself not to cry when he first learns that Ben dies, knowing it's only a way to get dehydrated. (He does have to thank Dad for his survival training. Look what happened.) He has to force back tears again when he learns how.

Logically, he knows Klaus isn't the only possible way for the world to have ended, but for now it's the option he can feasibly think of while he's still stuck in the apocalypse. Five can't think of what else could have happened.

Forty five years he mostly spends trying not to die, determined to someday get back and save his family. Five has plenty of time to plan and think but his resources are limited and all that's irrelevant anyway if he can't get back.

In the end, it's a strange woman in fancy clothes, the first human he's spoken to in decades besides Dolores, who gets him out of the apocalypse. Tells him it's all necessary, his family's deaths and all, and offers him a job.

"Was it Klaus?" He asks once, only for The Handler to smirk, a knowing glint in her eyes that grates on Five's nerves. He asks again, and a third time, and a fourth. It's an innocent enough question, at least Five thinks so. But he never gets an answer.

So Five looks over the prosthetic eye he found in his brother's hand and just sighs, hoping there will be more answers when he gets back to his family. The book dates back five years before 2019 and makes no mention of any missing eyes but who knows what can happen in five years?

But then he's back with his family and no one is missing any eyes. Shame.

His brothers and sisters are all freaked out and in disarray. Clearly, they thought his time portal was actually their Number Four was off his prescriptions, and knowing what happened the last time, Five can't blame them for their fear.

They're all a bunch of broken pieces, but they're Five's broken pieces.

And then there's Klaus. He looks eerily similar to the corpse he found in the wastelands that the apocalypse left their home in. The one with all the stupid tattoos, but the only one that mattered was the one they all shared.

Klaus became a fucking drug addict?

Everything seems okay with him. Well, not okay, but also not 'end the world in a little over a week'. None of the broken vases or sudden fears of flight that haunted their childhoods. No indication that Klaus could destroy the earth in just a manner of eight days.

But who the hell knows what can happen in eight days?

The problem is he doesn't know if telling Klaus will do more good than bad. Vanya's book said he forgot. Maybe it happened again? Then again, Klaus could want to help if he knows about the impending danger, and try to go off his stuff in case of a possible fight. Or maybe he's already off his medication and telling him now would just upset him into killing everyone early.

And so Five plans it accordingly. Spies on his brother from afar to see if he takes the serum himself. If he doesn't he'll casually remind him. But there's no need, Klaus is still taking it a week before doomsday. He goes in immediately afterwards, telling him about the apocalypse.

He's never been one for subtlety and bluntly tells his brother not to even think about going off his dosage. Makes clear in no uncertain terms that it's a definite possibility that he kills everyone, which probably isn't the easiest thing to hear, but Five's life so far has been the opposite of easy and Klaus should be able to handle it like a big boy.

Judging by the look in his eyes, Klaus thinks of what happened last time. But good. Klaus needs to learn from what happened, if he didn't already. So no one else has to die and protecting their family is just a little bit easier for Five.

Still, Five doesn't trust Klaus. It's harsh but it's true. He remembers, which is a given due to his photographic memory, remembers the damage he caused at the age of twelve. Five refuses to forget

Five's not one for taking risks... Okay, that's a lie, but he's spent several painful decades waiting for the chance to save his family, his stupid, stupid family, and he's not gonna just let it go.

So, as annoying as his next move is, Five keeps his junkie brother close. Forces his brother to pretend to be his dad for information on the eye- Just to be safe. Of course, Five has to promise twenty bucks to feed his brother's addiction, but that's small in comparison to the apocalypse.

Wow, Klaus is screwed up.

He forces himself to sit through Klaus's unbearable anecdotes about his dating life and then forces Klaus to sit still for fifteen minutes while Five reunited with Dolores.

Yeah, Five lasts a day. He should honestly get a reward. Around the time Five finds himself arguing with Luther and Klaus seems hellbent on being as much of a nuisance as possible, Five loses all semblance of self control and kicks him out.

Look, Five cares about all his siblings. He's come to terms with that over the decades. And Five doesn't forget the scared little boy he held in his arms that one night. The one who had no control of himself. And now Klaus is still uncontrollable, just in a much different way.

Klaus knows the risks, and as irresponsible as he is he clearly regrets what happened with Ben, so what is the worst that can possibly happen if Five focuses on other possible causes without him around?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I start online school on Tuesday and I really hope I get everything at least written before then. I estimate their being at least twelve chapters and I'm almost done on chapter nine for perspective so I probably can even if I end up missing a day or two.


	7. Allison ~ Fall Apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter so far. 
> 
> I'm about to make someone angry with me, but while Klaus is my favorite to write, Allison is my favorite character in general. Like, season one she was top tier for me, I never got why people called her a bad person, then season two dropped and I was like... Allison is the best, she's my favorite, love her.
> 
> I mean she's flawed as fuck... But so is literally everyone else, and Allison actually acknowledges it.

Allison doesn't know what she expected to happen when she went home for her father's funeral. She just knows it sure as hell wasn't this.

She's missed her siblings, she realizes. Allison has spent so long trying to erase these parts of herself that she didn't let herself acknowledge it until now.

Everything is in perspective now that she's an adult. Everything. How everything seemed to build up until it all fell apart. The way they treated Vanya, all the ways they weren't treated right, and Klaus. Just Klaus.

It hurt when Ben died. And how Ben died... Allison only wanted to forget.

She's been selfish. Allison realizes that now. She always has been, but after her family fell apart it's only gotten worse and worse until finally it all slapped her in the face and there's no pretending it's not there.

But Allison's done pretending. She has serious issues, and her life is seriously messed up, but she can do better. She'll acknowledge her flaws and even if it doesn't make up for the mistakes she made, the least she can do is learn how to not make those mistakes.

She tries with her siblings. Her siblings don't try with her but that's alright. Allison will just have to try harder then. She'll make it up to them.

Klaus is the most heartbreaking. He's never been the same, not since Dad first came up with a way to hold back his powers, but now he's chaotic in a way he never was before. And clearly a drug addict. It hurts to think that he spiraled so much in the years Allison was trying to get away from them all.

Allison thinks of Claire, back in L.A. with her father, and all the ways she's done wrong by her. She thinks of her siblings, each one seeming just as lost and lonely as her. And she has no idea how to reach out to them. Every relationship she has with the people she loves is left a bunch of broken pieces.

It's tempting to just fix everything with a few words, or maybe more than a few words.

 _"I heard a rumor you love me."_ She'd said in a fit of desperation to calm Patrick down after he found out what she'd been doing to their daughter. But it didn't worked. He already loved her, he just loved Claire more.

That's what did it. Like a rumor in itself, Allison finally realized how selfish she's been.

"Sometimes I miss rumors." Allison admits to Luther in a moment they spend alone after another failed family meeting, shame already rising up inside her at the admission. At the acknowledgment of her own faults. She does her best to ignore it in order to keep up the conversation.

"So why do you stop?" Luther asks innocently.

"Because I don't want to hurt anybody." Allison says somberly, thinking of all the people she forced to do things just to make her own life easier.

Luther looks surprised, mouth falling open ajar for a moment. "You- You would never! Allison-"

"Do you think he misses it?" She asks abruptly. "Klaus? Do you think he misses his powers?"

Luther's eyes widen. "After what happened-"

"I'm not talking about that." She says, leaving no room for argument.

"Well..." He starts and then hesitates. "I mean, why would he?"

"Wouldn't you miss your powers if you didn't have them?" Allison challenges.

"Well... Yeah! But... Didn't he say he could still see ghosts even with the injections?"

Allison nods, a bit surprised Luther's acknowledging that. As kids he thought Klaus was making it up until it was clear Dad believed him. Allison always knew it was true though. She didn't like not knowing for sure and rumored him into telling the truth about seeing ghosts.

Fuck.

"Besides," Luther continues. "If anyone knows about Klaus's feelings it's you. You were a lot closer to him than I was."

"We... never talked about it much." Allison says, the familiar sensation of regret building up again.

She remembers how scared she'd been of her own brother after he lifted the mansion, and even at that young age she felt ashamed of herself for being afraid of her brother, who was so sweet growing up. He didn't deserve that fear, so when it was clear the injections worked she tried to move past it.

Allison couldn't even do the things she tried to do good without doing it wrong.

"Allison." Luther says, voice riddled with caution. "You know what happened last time Klaus had those powers?"

"Of course I remember." Allison snaps. "I just.... I just want to do good for my family."

Like she should've been doing this entire time. Like she didn't do for Claire and Patrick, the family she made for herself. Like she didn't do for Vanya and Klaus, the lonely siblings no one wanted to think about.

Luther looks like he's about to say something else. Probably to reassure her, which Allison has to appreciate, even if he doesn't get it. Not that she did until recently. Before he can though, the sound of gunshots startle them both. Looking at each other in concern, they set off together.

Allison has no idea who these psychos are or why they want Number Five, but she's not gonna let them hurt her family.

But it's the aftermath where things fall apart. Even more than they were before. She's left in a state of shock of what happened to Luther's body, something that must've happened when she wasn't there for him. And then Diego's berating Vanya, and in a moment of weakness, Allison reverts back to the blissfully unaware teenage girl who'd probably figure that it was true and move on.

She'll fix this. She can fix this. Fix everything. In the morning, after she's slept off the chaos of tonight's attack. She'll make it up to them all and be a good sister.

But right now, she's just not in a good headspace, and if the others are anything like her they probably need some time to themselves to cool off. For now, she'll give them that space.

In the meantime, she'll check on Klaus to make sure he's alright and then go to bed.

Fuck.

Once again the household erupts into chaos, or just Diego and Allison with Vanya gone, Five missing, and them both agreeing to leave Luther to himself for the time being. Allison still has to apologize to Vanya for not siding with her after the attack, but it has to wait.

It takes an embarrassingly long time to find their brother, though not from a lack of trying. Diego insists that finding Five is the way to find Klaus. They split up so he can look for Five and her Klaus but then meet up again in the morning, both empty handed, and get Luther involved after she fails to mediate another one of their fights. It takes too long to find Five, and when they do he's to drunk to answer their questions.

"This is useless." Allison says, and she's about to leave when Diego's landlord of all people give them an actual lead. Apparently Diego visited one of his cop friends the night before and she found their brother while they were failing to operate.

Allison wants to go, but her brothers insist that someone needs to stay behind to watch over Five, and that besides, she doesn't even use her powers anymore. She'd argue that them leaving together on their own won't end well and that she can handle herself, but they're already leaving and to her annoyance, someone really should look over Five.

The old Allison would have ran after them and rumored one of them to switch places with her. Scratch that, the old Allison would have rumored them to focus on finding their missing brothers, one whom is probably hurting and waiting for her. Them. Waiting for them.

But Allison is changing and accepts the job that she's left to.

Sometimes she really fucking misses rumors.

But at sunrise her brothers still return without Klaus, with Diego now pissed at Five, and Luther pulls her aside to tell her that they found the motel room empty save for the deceased body of someone Diego clearly loves. Allison didn't even know it was possible for things to fall apart more than it had been, but it feels like that what's happening?

But Allison has to hold herself together if she wants to find her brother. She can at least do that right. If the motel room was empty, then Klaus had a chance to escape. And they did teach him to fly and not fight growing up. There's a chance those psychos took him somewhere else but just in case she and Luther go to police so they can be on the lookout for skinny and probably hurt drug addicts with loads of tattoos.

They resume their own investigation but it's not long before the police call them about someone matching Klaus's description making a scene at a bus stop. It's him. Allison is relieved beyond belief, but he's different. More different than he was before he got kidnapped.

But Allison can still fix things. She'll be patient. Patient as she has to be. And even as she struggles to understand what he's talking about, she'll resist the urge to rumor him. She'll comfort him, and when he's better she'll make it up to Vanya, and maybe things can finally look uphill.

At least things officially can't fall more apart. Things can't possibly get worse than they already are. They can't be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I wrote her correctly. Like, in canon season one she was trying really hard with Vanya but she made a lot of mistakes along the way.


	8. Klaus ~ Crazy

Honestly, Klaus kind of thinks he's going through a really bad trip when he's randomly being pushed around a war zone. Because this being something that's actually happening to anybody is just crazy. All the telltale signs are there. Loud noises, confusing happenstances, super hot shirtless guy with dreamy eyes. Check, check, check!

He's not sure when the realization that this is somehow a thing that's actually happening to him sinks in. Probably somewhere between all the gunfire and the many heart to hearts he has with a fellow soldier. Dave.

(Klaus doesn't smile when he says Dave's name. He doesn't remember that being something he read in one of those cheesy magazines he and Allison used to read as teenagers. 'How to Tell You're Falling in Love'. So fucking cheesy.)

But then the realization comes with yet another one. That Klaus has to go home. If he doesn't then he can't take his injections.

The problem is that Klaus doesn't want to leave. Well, of course he wants to leave, he's in a warzone. And of course he wants to see Ben again. Maybe even check in on Five to see what those psychos who kidnapped and tortured him were on about.

But also Klaus wants to stay? Which is of course crazy, but then again Klaus is crazy. Fucking batshit even. 

But maybe Dave is too. He doesn't seem crazy, but he also doesn't look at Klaus like he's crazy, so he must be. But he's also kind and nice and strong and of all the one night stands and flings he's had, Dave might be hotter than all those nobodies combined. 

And Klaus- Klaus doesn't always feel everything. He remembers something being off after his first injection all those years ago and not knowing what. It never went away but Klaus got used to the dullness. He decided years ago to call it a dullness.

He never felt much for his past relationships, even the ones that could actually qualify as relationships. Even when he was put through torture, knowing his family would only look for him to make sure he didn't hurt anybody else, he was numb to it. Klaus made his jokes, because jokes mean he at least felts something towards the horror around him.

But Dave makes him feel something. Something special and warm and fuzzy.

But the serums aren't in late sixties Vietnam. And Klaus can't live with himself if he hurts someone else. Anyone else, but especially Dave.

He needs to leave, but he's always been selfish. So he stays. He'll stay until his powers begin to resurface and when they do, he'll leave. Even it kills him, Klaus will do that. He's not going to hurt anybody else.

Except the powers never come back. 

It's confusing at first, but then it occurs to him that Klaus has had another sedative this entire time. Drugs. The drugs. He's saved! Klaus won't hurt anybody, and he doesn't need his injections. Klaus can have his cake and eat it too.

He gets so happy he floats an inch off the ground. But then it doesn't happen again for another week, so Klaus remains cautiously optimistic. After all, that's how long it took last time...

So Klaus stays in Vietnam. Stays with Dave.

It takes a stupidly short amount of time for Klaus to fall in love. Without the injections, the dullness doesn't go away but it's less so now. Slowly everything comes back up again one way or another. 

He's afraid of the warzone, he has fun when he dances, and Dave makes things fuzzy. He knew that before, felt those things before, before the serum piercing in his veins ran out, but now they're more pronounced. More real. 

Klaus thinks he likes it. Likes the emotions that pop up without his serum. Likes the more broad scope of fear and fun and fuzz and all the things he's forgotten. And he loves Dave. 

His old powers crop up a little, but they're minimal and actually easy to control. It's like he's a little kid again, barely flying an inch off the ground but yearning to go a little further. Not that he ever will. Klaus couldn't bear it if he'd hurt Dave.

Of course, nothing good ever lasts when it comes to Klaus Hargreeves. And maybe that's what he deserves, after all the shitload of pain he's caused. And maybe the pain is punishment for forgetting that.

He destroys everyone in a mile's radius, either his high is worn off or his agony's just that powerful, but it doesn't matter because no one fucking cares about any soldiers giving their live.

For the first time, feeling all his emotions again is a curse. Klaus goes back home, manages to pull himself together before his siblings pick him up, and he knows he should just inject himself with enough serum to turn him into a vegetable because that surely has to be better than this.

But Klaus won't do that. Instead he considers doing something crazy. Again. But he can't just- Do something crazy. Or at least not this crazy thing in specific. Bute needs permission. From one person in particular.

It takes a full day for those fuckers to leave him alone. Klaus lies and tells Pogo he took his stuff before he got kidnapped and didn't need anymore. One by one they all get off his ass. 

Luther goes after Five and Diego is in a rush to get some revenge as fast as fucking possible. Allison is the hardest to convince but he lies and insists he's fine, and coaxes her into meeting with Vanya or something. But finally, it's just him and Ben. Well, him and Ben and his crazy plan.

"Just be careful." Ben advises.

"Of course."

If his sudden urge to get sober is odd to his siblings, he can just point to the trauma of his kidnapping experience giving him a new zest for life. 

But then Luther's coming to get him for another fucking family meeting, And then he's reminded of Five's impending apocalypse, which he somehow managed to forget after the torture and the war and the fuzz and the pain and crazy. Aw fuck.

Dave or the world. Dave or the world. Dave or the world.

It's tempting to just say fuck the world. The world never did anything for Klaus. But he's nuts, just not that nuts. And then he remembers Ben, all the friends he lost in the war, the ones he murdered in his agony and didn't even think about until now. 

God, he's a monster isn't he? Once again, Klaus doesn't think about anyone other than himself. And gets others hurt while he tries to do things that make himself happy.

It was a crazy plan anyways. 

So Klaus shoots himself up with serum and then heroin, starts a fight with a bunch of dicks in a veteran's bar, and other batshit insane crap all the while trying to push away the immense longing to be crazy in a very, very different way.


	9. Vanya ~ Explode

Vanya doesn't want to explode. She really, really doesn't want to explode.

But no one ever gets what they want. Least of all Vanya.

Leonard is the only person there for her after the attack on the mansion. She isn't even sure where he comes from, but in a manner of days she finds herself with someone who sees her. Actually sees her after a lifetime of being overlooked and it's amazing. It's euphoric. More than her book, more than her music, it's another human being looking at her as something that matters.

It's everything she's ever wanted.

Actually, everything seems to be looking up for her. She has Leonard, a boyfriend who thinks she's special even compared to her siblings. She nails her audition to be First Chair, thanks in no small part to Leonard's encouragement. 

And just when she thinks things are as good as it is gonna get for her, Allison knocks on her door in the middle of the night, coming to apologize for kicking her out and for taking so long to reach out to her. And of course Vanya has to understand the latter part when she learns that Klaus was kidnapped. 

They make plans to hang out in the morning, and Vanya invites her to sleep over on her couch, but they agree that it would make more sense to spend the night in her bed back home.

"Your brother got kidnapped?" Leonard says the next morning as though unconvinced, voice completely riddled with doubt. "That doesn't sound like an excuse or something?"

"No?" 

But would she know? All Vanya's ever gotten was excuses and dismissals. It's like she's been trained to submit to her family. But Leonard isn't. Leonard can look at all this, at her family, and see things without a bias. Without a compulsive need to appease them.

Abuse. That's one of the words that were thrown around a lot when her book first came out. Something they've all clearly been through, but what about now? Dad is dead and they're still treating her like garbage beneath their feet. Someone who eternally does not belong.

This is only proven more correct when she gets a call. Vanya is First Chair. First Chair Vanya. She's ecstatic, and decides to go back to the mansion in order to invite Allison. And maybe even the rest of them if they want to. But when she returns home with Leonard in tow, she does find all of them. All of them in a family meeting. And Vanya was not invited.

She explodes on them, laying into them for how they treat her. And it feels great. It does what she tries to do with her book. She lets out all the anger she's built up towards them. Vanya keeps exploding until she's walking down the street, Leonard trailing behind her. But somethings wrong.

Powers. She has fucking powers.

She doesn't really believe it at first, but Leonard convinces her. And that is- Wow. Her entire life she's been ignored for her lack of powers and suddenly she's doing things, things she's never dreamed of doing before. Well, that's not true. It's everything she's ever dreamed of and never thought was possible.

And then there are these guys. These absolute assholes who try and harass Vanya, and Leonard steps in. They nearly beat her boyfriend half to death right in front of her. And Vanya explodes.

At first she feels relieved. Leonard is safe. And then she feels terrified, absolutely fucking terrified. She killed a group of human beings. Shitty human beings but- but holy shit.

She killed those people. It's horrific, even if they had it coming, even if they would have done the same to Leonard and God knows what to her afterwards. But Leonard is there, telling her it's okay. Telling her that she saved him, that she did the right thing, that she was extraordinary.

She's in love.

Since Leonard's entered her life, everything has been different. Vanya has been different. She's braver now, more willing to stand up for herself in face to face confrontations. And it's great. And she loves it. Loves him.

The frustration she's felt her entire life is stronger now, more pronounced, and willing to burst out of her at any minute. But also she feels the joy at having found a person who's good for her. To her. Who pushes her to be special after a lifetime of being told that she simply never could be.

He tells her stay off her med. The pills, they realize, are the key. It's her pills. It's Dad. 

It's like Klaus. Like Klaus but she didn't get the choice. She didn't get the choice, but she still felt the weight, the repression. Has Klaus felt the same way she has all this time?

She remembers Ben. Could she do that? No, she did do that. To those men. Even though Vanya is sure as hell not comparing her brother to those dicks, she can't help but compare her other brother to herself.

Way back as kids it was pretty much agreed that Klaus wasn't really to blame for Ben's death. It was agreed through Diego's glare, Allison's soft pleas, and the utter remorse filling Klaus's eyes. But it was agreed.

Now though, Vanya gets it. Honest to God gets it. Maybe not exactly, just as Klaus could never exactly get what she's done and been through either, but she gets something. 

She gets what power is like, she gets not quite controlling that power, and she gets hurting people when she loses control.

And then Allison is there. Vanya is cold but willing to explain what's going on. Her sister at least tried to be nice when she first came home for the family reunion, and even if she still hasn't learned from when they were just kids, the least Vanya do is tell her about her superpowers. Not for Allison but for Vanya. For Vanya to finally be the one to say, 'Look at me! I'm special!'

But then Allison tells her that she was the one to force her to forget about her powers when they were four and- and Allison is saying all this stuff about Leonard being some serial killer named 'Harold Jenkins' who's dangerous and tricking her and-

No. This can't be true. It can't be. 

But Allison keeps talking and Vanya knows she's threatened by her. And it's all like a pounding force beating its way out of her. Vanya can hear Allison start to rumor her again and all she can think is, 'Not again.' And she explodes.

She has never regretted anything more. And never more instantaneously. But her regrets mean nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Leonard coaxes her away with sweet word but it's not long before he proves her sister was right and explodes on him too. And maybe he fucking deserves it the way Allison didn't but it's still brutal. Still terrifies Vanya.

So she goes to the only people left to her and prays they'll take her back. They lock her in a cage. And Vanya explodes.

The next few hours are white. Just white. She's not entirely sure what happens next. 

Vanya knows she finally has her moment in the spotlight. The moment she's been robbed of for so long. Allison is in the aisles. She gives her a faint smile that Vanya doesn't return. But she's alive. Vanya didn't kill her. And everything falls perfectly together for a brief moment.

But then her brothers are running in on her and no- Vanya can't let them ruin this. So she doesn't. The orchestra behind her is trying to run but no. Not when they've all finally learned her name. 

And through the chaos of it all, she explodes and the world falls with her.


	10. Ben ~ Dream

The sixties. They were in the fucking nineteen sixties. Ben takes a page from Klaus's book and figures that that's life. He has to assure his brother that he's not dreaming, Ben knows for sure because ghosts can't dream. And he would hope his dreams would be a bit more escapist, where as in reality not all that much really changes for him even now. 

Klaus is still an addict, he still doesn't listen, and Ben is still left to look after him. Except now they're in the nineteen sixties, and while life wasn't a walk in the park for a pansexual who refuses to adhere to gender norms (nor should he) back home in the present, in the sixties it's a nightmare. 

But at least he manages to make it three more years. Klaus ends up on the streets most of the time, except there are no rehab centers around. Three more years of Klaus not really meaning much of anything to anyone. Anyone other than Ben. After all, their family is God knows where and no one else with half a brain cell would listen to Klaus's clearly drug-induced ramblings.

Ben loves his brother, but somehow moving to a different time period has had an affect on him to the point of having a crisis of existentialism. Is this all his existence is now? Watching his brother fumble around and waste away from everything he's been through?

There's one good thing that comes from being dragged around from place to place to place. Ben at least gets to see the world like he wanted to before his death and like Klaus apparently wanted to do before... Well, also before his death. 

It makes him wonder if they could have had something similar if things had been different. If Ben never died and Klaus never got into drugs. If they were two living, functional brothers in present time. Could they have traveled together? Or maybe-

Ben is dead. Klaus is an addict. They are in the sixties. Those are the facts of life. And the facts of death. Ben learned early on in his death that dwelling over 'what ifs' and all that third step bargaining bullshit would drive him flat-fucking crazy.

It's an odd few years that they spend in the past, and the scary part is that it's also kind of the same? Or feels the same, as in Klaus is still a drug addict and still making the same bad decisions that are just painful for him to watch. 

So when Klaus gets his ass kicked off three separate buses in order to return right back where they started, but still in the sixties, Ben doesn't question it. Klaus is a drifter, just like he always wanted. If he feels like going to Dallas on a whim, Klaus will do just that.

And it's Ben's mistake by not questioning it. Because then he learns why.

Klaus ends up face to fist with the love of his life at the behest of Dave's asshole uncle. And like an explosion, the windows break behind him. Klaus runs out of there as quickly as possible, Ben rushing after him.

They make it to a park bench, the earth itself quaking beneath their feet like an earthquake. Suddenly Ben is twelve, terrified by the uncontrollable power exuding his brother. Suddenly Ben is seventeen, moments before what happened happened. 

"What's happening, Ben?" Klaus asks, his voice shuddering hard.

"You're just upset." Ben says, voice as soothing as he can possibly manage. This has happened before- Not this, and not to this big of an extent, but his old powers have leaked out from time to time. 

The drugs aren't as good a sedative as his actual sedatives. Ben actually prefers it that way, strange as it is. His brother's feelings seem more pronounced. More... More. He still holds back, still tries to hide behind a mask, a facade, of chaos and craziness. But Ben can see more through the cracks. Klaus's more real this way, and Ben likes that.

The powers don't stop though. Klaus drowns his sorrows until he passes out, but as he sleeps he floats above the gravel of back alley (not the one they landed in) he's made his temporary home like he's Sabrina the Teenage Witch. And maybe he is.

"Your powers are growing." Ben whispers, unsure how to feel about this. 

He died the second to last time Klaus used those powers fully, and the last time he killed countless soldiers in Vietnam. Ben doesn't blame his brother for that and he's realized that Dad should have tried harder to teach him how to control them, but Klaus sure as he'll isn't going to learn that control in the sixties, in the midst of all the mess that surrounds his brother.

Klaus responds by trying to drown his powers out with even more drugs. Too much drugs. Too much for even his body to take. "No!"

Ben stays and watches over his brother's dead body as it turns pale, not believing it's real, convinced it's one horrible dream, all the while contemplating and regretting every little thing that led to this. Klaus is fine though.

"You can come back from the dead." Ben says in awe, in both relief and with what he has to admit is a little tinge of jealousy. Klaus doesn't take this news happily, but before anything drastic can happen Five appears and they're off to their next family reunion.

And they can see Ben. If ghosts could dream, this is what they would dream about.

And it is everything Ben ever dreamed of. He's wanted to speak to them so bad these past years and yet it seemed like it would never happen. Like it was just Klaus. He always knew 

Allison is a civil rights activist, on her second marriage, and she's desperate to get her husband out of prison after getting locked up a few days ago. Diego was institutionalized and met a new girl, but their relationship is kind of rocky. Also Luther is boxer... Even though he has super strength and shouldn't... Wait a sec-

And finally Vanya with her amnesia and her new girlfriend. She hears of how she ended the world and says she doesn't want to that again. And that's it. Everyone's inclined to believe her. After all, she's not the one who seems likely to explode. Klaus's powers exploding out of him startles everyone as well as gives everyone a heads up on who'll probably end the world this time.

A new plan is formed. Five does most, or pretty much all, of the work finding a way back to the present where Klaus can get back on those injections. 

In the meantime, everyone else will stay in this weird guy's apartment. It's actually fairly chill for a hot minute. Ben rebonds with his siblings, they all collectively decide against meeting their father, and Klaus manages to keep enough control not to kill anyone else for the time being.

A couple Russians break in but they fight them off easily. The fight freaks out Klaus though and they have to calm him down. And no one gets hurt. The whole thing has Ben wondering if things can be different when they get back. If Klaus can learn to control his powers when they get home, and he can have all his feelings all the time and Ben can be with his family.

It's a nice enough day dream. Maybe it can even be a reality.

The others do eventually go off on their own- temporarily, of course. 

Vanya is the first to leave to reunite with her girlfriend after she calls the family she was staying with, and Luther's apprehensive at at first but agrees after she promises to keep things in check. Allison finally breaks and rumors her husband out of prison, planning to bring him back to the apartment to introduce the poor man to his in-laws. Ben can't wait. Diego just leaves without saying goodbye. Rude.

Meaning Ben, Klaus, and Luther are the only ones there when Five comes with a temporary time machine. Five's not happy, and Luther ends up following him, leaving Klaus in the hands of Ben and their Elliott friend. But Allison at least comes back with her confused husband?

Diego reappears after a day on his own where his kind of girlfriend apparently blindsided him by introducing him to her mom out of the blue and getting him a job.

Oh fuck, it's Vanya again. Reality crashes in on them again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow I start online school, which I'm hoping won't have homework but probably will. Anyway, I decided to spend my last day of metaphorical freedom by setting a tumblr account! My username is glitterfairy-21225, I also got a photoshop app, I'm not saying I'm good at it but it's actually a lot of fun.


	11. Klaus ~ Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the chapter name confusion last chapter.
> 
> I'm almost embarrassed by how proud I am of what I just wrote.

Klaus isn't sure how things got so out of control, but all of a sudden he's in an FBI hallway, Diego and Allison are incapacitated, and he's pretty sure Vanya's gonna kill them all and then end the world again.

And the worst thing is that the fate of pretty much everything relies on Klaus not fucking up long enough to diffuse the bomb that is his little sister.

"You got this, Klaus!" Ben says in encouragement, and it's all Klaus can do to not spit in- or through- no in- his face because Klaus doesn't have this. He's never had this. His life has pretty much been defined by not having this.

But Klaus doesn't do that because right now he has to get to his sister, save the world, and save his family.

He makes it to the door, it's so hard to hold on, but Klaus needs to, he needs to. So forces himself through it. A rush of pure energy get him through the door and next to Vanya. But he doesn't know how to help her, how to fix this, how to get this to stop. 

So he explodes.

In his defense, everything. Absolutely everything. All the things he couldn't control, his family's worry, his need to forget, the want for more, the refusal to listen, the fear of what might happen, the way everything fell apart, the voice in his head calling him crazy, all building up until he exploded, all the while not even daring to dream of a better life. A life where nothing explodes, no one is crazy, everyone falls in to place, because good things happen, everyone listens, everyone gets what they want, no forgetting, no worries. A life where Klaus has control.

But Klaus doesn't have control, he never did. His father had control and look at the mess he made called his children. His father gave him an injection and called it control and it was but it wasn't Klaus's. 

But now- Now Klaus is finally able to do exactly what he wanted. He does something odd. He goes into something like a dream? No- but also yes. Like a sort of possession almost. Chills run down his spine. 

He's back home, the only home he's ever actually known even if it never really felt much like a home. His mind is heavy, and he wonders if he's finally, truly gone crazy. And there's Vanya, his sister. She's tiny and afraid, falling apart at the seams, dressed like a Hogwarts student as though they were still little kids.

"What's wrong with me?" She cries in utter despair. It breaks Klaus's heart. "Why can't I control myself like the rest of you?" 

Softly as he can manage, Klaus replies. "Don't you remember who you're talking to? I killed Ben." 

That's the first time he's ever referred to it so bluntly. They both flinch, but that doesn't change that's what happened.

"You were so young." Vanya whispers, and Klaus thinks she's talking about when Ben died, but then she says. "What were we, twelve? Before I realized what happened to me, I never even thought twice. It was all just... A fact of life. I never forgot about it but I guess I didn't remember it either? I'm sorry... But God, you were twelve. You didn't know what that stuff would do to you."

Klaus gulps as he listens, hanging on to every word. "Yeah... A common theme of our childhood if you haven't noticed." 

"Are lives are so fucked up." Vanya shakes her head. "All my life, the only thing I've ever wanted was to special. To compare to the great Umbrella Academy. Now I'd give my powers up if it means no one else gets hurt." She looks at him and sighs hard. "You're going back on your injections if we go back home?"

"Yeah." Klaus says, because of course he is. If he doesn't he'll hurt someone else.

"Maybe I should too." Vanya says in resignation.

"No, you don't have to!" Klaus says quickly, dread piling up in his gut at the thought of the sister who was lied to and excluded losing herself a second time. "You just need to learn control."

"The same can be said about you." Vanya says, doubt clear as day in her voice. "What if we just can't?"

"After Ben-"

"After the world-" She shoots back. "After Allison and Pogo and all of you!"

"What about your Farm Frau?" Klaus asks. "We both know what those drugs do. And we both know what it's like to be in love. It- it's too late for me and Dave. But you can be happy! So happy with her."

"Well you deserve happy too, and I know, I know what you think about Ben. I think the same when it comes to the people I've hurt. But if you think I still deserve happy after all that than you do too." Vanya says. "And I'm sorry that your relationship won't work out. I really am... But there is Ben. And Allison and Diego, and Five and Luther, and me."

"What are you saying?" Klaus whispers softly, willing tears away.

"I'm saying, maybe you and me can help each other learn control. It won't be easy, we'll both have to be careful, but it might be worth it. We'll both be whole. The way it was meant to be. What do you say?"

They hold hands, and doing their best to know what they're doing, they return to reality. Everything stops. They walk out the door together to where their brother and sister are regaining consciousness.

"Klaus?" Diego asks, worry lacing his voice. 

Allison continues. "Are you guys okay?"

Vanya and Klaus look at each other, both still filled with powers they have no idea how to fully and completely control, and in unison they say, "Yeah."

They go to Vanya's farm, they're attacked by Diego's new girlfriend, and for the second time in twenty four hours Klaus uses powers besides seeing dead people. He kills all the suit wearing weirdos in one fowl swoop as Vanya gets her girlfriend's son to calm down. Ben holds his hand the entire time, keeping him tethered to himself. He comes down immediately after going in for the kill, not wanting to risk it any longer than he has to.

Holy fuck, Diego has an intense taste in women. 

Yeah, she takes out most of them. They reconvene, plan, try to appeal to her, and then it's Diego's girlfriend's mom that they're fighting? Okay. Anyway, they kill the Handler and only after The Umbrella Academy- or sorry, Team Zero work together that they overpower Lila.

And as for Vanya's girlfriend's kid- "I managed to calm him down while Klaus was holding off The Commission." - well that's just another child ready to learn some self-control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's my story! Glad you enjoyed it. I know I said twelve chapters, and my original plan was to give Ben Klaus's time in the three years he lived between season one and two, Luther the rest of season two, and finally Klaus for... basically this chapter. 
> 
> I did write a final chapter as an epilogue but I think it's a bit of a drop in quality and too sappy while also too funny? And I could rewrite it but I kinda just want to move on from this. I'll publish it if someone asks me to.
> 
> Also, I just want to say how glad I am that I decided to publish it in this form. Like I said, I was planning it as a really long one chapter fic, but reading some of your comments has impacted the story for the better. Like, you had me thinking a lot about Vanya's motivations for season one and led to this overreaching arc about Vanya and Klaus and control. So thank you!


	12. Epilogue ~ Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The epilogue as requested. <3

The Hargreeves family return to modern day at various ages. 

They return to the world they had left, unaware of the massive disaster that would have followed them had they met with their father in the nineteen sixties. Not to mention Klaus's lack of a cult, but that's another story, besides all those followers found other cults to join.

But for now, the only changes is that they and their disappearances from the sixties are occasional topics in conspiracy theories revolving around Kennedy's death. 

But not one of the Hargreeves cares much about that.

Slowly, very slowly, they begin to heal. And grow. And prosper. Klaus and Vanya learn to control their abilities step by step. Both afraid of their ability to hurt others around them, especially when the others around them are the people they love the most. But they do it. Together.

At first they still medicate, though much less than before in terms of proportions. They still have their feelings more or less. Just enough to make both of them feel comfortable during the transitional period that control came with. But soon enough they both feel as though they're in positions to live without it. 

As they take control, they also teach Vanya's son Harlan to control his powers as well. After they got rid of The Handler, it became blatantly clear that Vanya wasn't capable of taking away the powers she gave to the boy without killing him as it had been Vanya's intrusion that saved his life on the first place.

To remedy this, Sissy, who the other Hargreeves siblings finally learned the name of, had no choice but travel to the seemingly distant future with her lover and son and eventual in-laws. As time goes on she and Harlan, as well as Elliott Gussman, the oddball salesman who accompany them, become permanent fixtures in the lives of the Hargreeves family. She and Vanya marry in a fortnight and honeymoon in one of the many places Sissy dreamed of traveling to in her youth.

Klaus gets the surprise of his life when he learns that due to Dave's early recruitment, he ended up in a completely different squadron, one that didn't fight in the battle that would have ended his life. He's in his retirement age, and doesn't know who Klaus is, but gets along quite well with the strange former superhero who reminds him a bit of some hippie he met a lifetime ago.

And with Klaus's powers under control, Ben 'lives' his dream. He know speaks to his family and interacts with the real world as though he were any other living person. After a year or so, the blue tinge that surrounds him disappears so he appears normal, and after a few years, they can go months without Ben losing corporeality, and after a more that problem disappears as well.

Allison earns back the trust of her ex-husband and earns partial custody of her little pride and joy. Five takes a nap. Diego goes to a relationship counselor.

Klaus learns control, learns to remember, learns that he is not crazy.

Vanya gets the love she's always wanted, and never once does her pain need to explode out of her.

Ben is universally listened to by his siblings, as he's always dreamed of.

Diego finds that his worries soothe off his chest with each passing year. 

Five slowly, slowly, slowly learns that not everything will lead to the end of all life happening.

Allison lives life content as her family remained together as one unit, learning how not to fall apart.

And Luther learns to love and accept his own body as it had been deformed, and settles into a loving, drug-filled life with Elliot the conspiratorial salesman. (It's a whole other thing.)

And the Hargreeves family live the rest of their lives as a family and nothing bad ever happens aside from the occasional crisis, like when the same alien species from their sadist of a father's home planet invade all of earth. 

But aside from that, the siblings are finally, finally able to move on from the massive amounts of abuse and trauma they endured as children. And they finally learn to be happy. And they finally learn to be a family.


End file.
